No Fear Shakespeare: Macbeth: Characters No Fear Shakespeare Act 1, Scene 1 Macbeth A Scottish general and the thane of Glamis. (“Thane” is a Scottish title of nobility, and Glamis is a village in eastern Scotland.) Macbeth is led to wicked thoughts by the prophecies of three witches, especially after their prophecy that he will be made thane of Cawdor comes true. Macbeth is a brave soldier and a powerful man, but he is not virtuous. He is easily tempted into murder to fulfill his ambitions to the throne, and once he commits his first crime and is crowned king of Scotland, he embarks on further atrocities with increasing ease. Macbeth cannot maintain his power because his increasingly brutal actions make him hated as a tyrant. Unlike Shakespeare’s other great villains, such as Iago in Othello and Richard III in Richard III, who revel in their villainy, Macbeth is never comfortable in his role as a criminal. He shows at the beginning of the play that he knows right from wrong, and chooses to do wrong without being able to justify it to himself. Ultimately, he is unable to bear the psychic consequences of his atrocities.

Lady Macbeth Macbeth’s wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position. Early in the play she seems to be the stronger and more ruthless of the two, as she urges her husband to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins, however, Lady Macbeth falls victim to guilt and madness to an even greater degree than her husband. Her conscience affects her to such an extent that she eventually commits suicide. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth apparently feel quite passionately for one another, and Lady Macbeth exploits her sexual hold over Macbeth as a means to persuade him to commit murder. However, their shared alienation from the world, occasioned by their partnership in crime, does not bring them closer together, but instead seems to numb their feelings for one another. The Three Witches Three mysterious hags who plot mischief against Macbeth using charms, spells, and prophecies. Their predictions prompt him to murder Duncan, to order the deaths of Banquo and his son, and to blindly believe in his own immortality. The play leaves the witches' true nature unclear we don’t really know whether they make their own prophecies come true, or where they get their knowledge from.

In some ways they resemble the mythological Fates, who impersonally wove the threads of human destiny. They clearly take a perverse delight in using their knowledge of the future to toy with and destroy human beings. Banquo The brave, noble general whose children, according to the witches' prophecy, will inherit the Scottish throne. Like Macbeth, Banquo thinks ambitious thoughts, but he does not translate those thoughts into action. In a sense, Banquo’s character stands as a rebuke to Macbeth, since he represents the path Macbeth chose not to take: a path in which ambition need not lead to betrayal and murder. Appropriately, then, it is Banquo’s ghost and not Duncan’s that haunts Macbeth. In addition to embodying Macbeth’s guilt for killing Banquo, the ghost also reminds Macbeth that he did not emulate Banquo’s reaction to the witches' prophecy. King Duncan The good king of Scotland whom Macbeth, ambitious for the crown, murders. Duncan is the model of a virtuous, benevolent ruler. His death symbolizes the destruction of an order in Scotland that can be restored only when Duncan’s line, in the person of Malcolm, once more occupies the throne.

Macduff A Scottish nobleman hostile to Macbeth’s kingship from the start. He eventually becomes a leader of the crusade to unseat Macbeth. The crusade’s mission is to place the rightful king, Malcolm, on the throne, but Macduff also desires vengeance for Macbeth’s murder of Macduff’s wife and young son. Malcolm The son of Duncan, whose restoration to the throne signals Scotland’s return to order following Macbeth’s reign of terror. Malcolm becomes a serious challenge to Macbeth with Macduff’s aid (and the support of England). Prior to this, he appears weak and uncertain of his own power, as when he and Donalbain flee Scotland after their father’s murder. Hecate The goddess of witchcraft, who helps the three witches work their mischief on Macbeth. Fleance Banquo’s son, who survives Macbeth’s attempt to murder him. At the end of the play, Fleance’s whereabouts are unknown. Presumably, he may come to rule Scotland, fulfilling the witches' prophecy that Banquo’s sons will sit on the Scottish throne.

Lennox Macbeth Navigator: Characters: Fleance, son of Banquo Fleance, son of Banquo [This is an annotated list of all appearances and all mentions of Fleance.] Ben Fellows as Fleance. Source: "I RAN THE GAUNTLET OF PEDOPHILES IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY" Banquo asks his son, Fleance, "How goes the night, boy? (2.1.1) . Thus opens the scene which ends with Macbeth going to murder his King. From the short conversation between Banquo and Fleance, it appears that Fleance is acting as his father's squire, and that the two of them have a trusting relationship. [ Detailed Scene Summary ] After Macbeth becomes king, and just before he has Banquo murdered, Macbeth makes a show of showing his friendship for Banquo. Banquo is going on a horseback ride, and Macbeth wishes him well, saying, "Hie you to horse: adieu, / Till you return at night," but then he asks, "Goes Fleance with you?" (3.1.34-35) , because he's planning on murdering Banquo's son, too.

[ Detailed Scene Summary ] When the three murderers attack Banquo, his first thought is for his son, and he cries out: O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!" (3.3.16) . Fleance does as his father says, and escapes into the night. [ Detailed Scene Summary ] When First Murderer tells Macbeth that Fleance has escaped with his life, Macbeth is bitterly disappointed, but there's not much he can do. He's glad that the "grown serpent" (Banquo) is dead, but "the worm that's fled / Hath nature that in time will venom breed, / No teeth for the present" (3.4.28-30) . Fleance is referred to as "the worm" because a worm is a small serpent. [ Detailed Scene Summary ] In the course of a sarcastic commentary on Macbeth's version of recent events, Lennox says to another Lord, "And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late; / Whom, you may say, if't please you, Fleance kill'd, / For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late" (3.6.7) .

We never find out where Fleance fled to. Lennox is just glad that Macbeth can't get his hands on Fleance; otherwise, the boy would be dead. [ Detailed Scene Summary ] Fleance Why didn't Banquo's son, Fleance, become the king after Macbeth dies?According to the Witches' prophecies, Banquo's children will be future kings,... | eNotes July 7, 2009 at 7:57 PM The major misunderstanding arises from the wrong selection of the word meaning by the Modern English Translators. Read again carefully the dialogue of the third witch in this context. " THOU SHALT GET KINGS, THOUGH THOU BE NONE....ETC". The translators of modern english have taken the meaning of the word GET as BEGET and from there the confusion springs up. The word GET has many other meanings and the one that fits in logically in this context is the meaning "LINEAGE". According to the Websters seventh collegiate dictionary the meaning of this word is " A GROUP OF PERSONS TRACING DECENT FROM A COMMON ANCESTOR".

Here the witch did not say that Banquo's son would ascend the throne after Duncan but had averred that the lineage carried down the generation would produce the Kings. Who was the ancestor of the kings who have filled the throne of Scotland afterwards? Who was the ancestor of James the sixth of scotland and the first of England? Are they not the decendents of Fleance? lastly who was the ancestor of the king under whom both the crowns of England and the Scotland have got united? Was he notthe decendent of Fleance's lineage? Thus the prophecy of the third witch had not gone unfulfilled. July 6, 2009 at 9:52 PM Fleance and his father Banquo are both fictional characters but presented as historical fact by Raphael Holinshed whose "Chronicles" was the source for Shakespeare's "Macbeth." In Raphael's "Chronicles" Fleance flees to Wales in fear of Macbeth, there he marries a Welsh princess by name Nesta Verch Gruffydd. They beget a son Walter who makes his way back to Scotland where he becomes the Royal Steward. According to the legend he began the Stuart line of monarchs through whom Scotland and England were united.

In 1722, the Scottish historian Richard Hay revealed that both Banquo and Fleance were only fictitious characters. Modern historical research has proved that Banquo and Fleance never existed. The plot of "Macbeth" ends with the death of Macbeth. Shakespeare does not continue the drama after that because if he had continued to write about what happened to Fleance then the tragic intensity of his play would have been diluted. like 3 dislike 1 Fleance, a shakespeare fanfic | FanFiction Scene 1 (In the woods) Fleance: (Running, holding a torch with no flame)Why? Why would the fates conspire so wicked a deed as the death of my father? He has the graces of a true man-kindly to all, yet not unbecomingly. There was not a man in all of Scotland who did not love him. Alas! For there was one who would hate him, and did. One who killed him! (Weeps) Like this torch, the world will know no more light. Oh Banquo! But I must school my tears.

As Macbeth, a close confidant of my late father, of't lectured, tears are for mothers and maidens. Banquo would not wish me to behave as thus. (An owl hoots) Evil owl, would that you could trade thy life for his! (Stops running) Forest, thy shadow is quite fearsome. Where be I? The trail has long since been abandoned, and 'side the cursed nightly beasts not a soul is near. Where be I? Is it my destiny to live out life as though a hermit, with only the forest for companionship? Is this fate's torture for running like a startled steed while my dear father perished? (Sits down) What is to become of me? (The sound of footsteps) Alack! Be that the murderers come to finish the job? (Stands up) This is the time for Banquo's revenge! (Enter lumberjack) Lumberjack: It's a lad! What be ye doing in this dark night, lad? He'd best get home quickly. Yer father must be mighty worried. Fleance: My father is no more. Lumberjack: And mother, also? Fleance: When I was a babe.

Lumberjack: Why, then ye be an orphan! Poor youngling, left wandering loose. Come to my home for a night! My wife makes a delightful stew. Fleance: Your kindness knows no bounds, sir! You are like an angel descended when I feared I would be lost in this accursed glen forevermore. I thank you most heartily, good sir! Lumberjack: Come along then lad. My home be this direction. (Exit Lumberjack, with Fleance) (The lumberjack's house) Fleance: Bless your souls, Sir, Madam. May good luck shine on you like the sun! Lumberjack's wife: More like the rain, if you please. We get more of one than th' other! Lumberjack: (Laughs heartily) Lumberjack's wife: But truly child, where will you go? The world is not a kind place to youngling like you! Lumberjack: And ye cannot have more then fourteen summers under yer belt, lad. Fleance: I have eighteen, good sir! With able hands and all the knowledge my father imposed upon me. Lumberjack: (Laughs) Ye's got something, lad, I give ye that.

Lumberjack's wife: Let me prepare a basket for ye, child. It will sooth an old woman's heart to know ye will be one step further from the demon that is starvation. (Exit Lumberjack's wife) Lumberjack: Welcome! Come in, then. (Enter Peasant) Peasant: Have ye heard? Banquo, Thain of Lochaber, was found dead in the forest! Them is sayin' that 'twas his bairn, Fleance, that did th' foul deed. Fleance: 'Twas not! Lumberjack: Ye know of this, lad? Fleance: Murderers, three of them! They acted as a pack of wolves, ne'er a break between them. He had not a chance. Peasant: Mighty fine imagination ye've got, lad. Why in King's name would anyone go after th' Thain of Lochaber. He was well liked, and found with all his gold. 'Twas not a robbery. Th' only one with motivation was his heir, who went out with him but ere return. Fleance: I did not kill my father! Lumberjack: Ye be Fleance, son of Banquo?

Fleance: Aye. Peasant: Ye be a killer, then! Fleance: Not I! Lumberjack: Ye lie. I should ne'er hath welcomed ye to my home. Ye will face the justice of our town, beast! (Grabs Fleance) Peasant: I will alert th' folk! (Exit Peasant) Fleance: I did not do as ye say I did! I would no more kill Banquo than myself! Lumberjack: Tis a suspicious story, lad. I found ye myself in the forest. Why were ye not killed as yer father was, if ye nay did it? Fleance: I fled. It was most unmanly to do so, but I must not lie. In those moments I acted as though a woman, and ran as though I was a hunted fox. (Enter Lumberjack's wife) Lumberjack's wife: Come now, husband. I hath seen him this long night. Would one grieve as he hath, if one did the killing himself. I can smell the truth, and this child is no killer. Lumberjack: Ye hath a woman's heart, and no businesses smelling killers.

However, what you say has a ring of truth. I myself saw th' tears present upon his face. Fleance: I shed no suck maidenly tears! Lumberjack: Very well lad, ye did not. Still, the grief was apparent. Ye could no more lie about that then yer sex. Lumberjack's wife: (Pushes a basket into Fleance's arms) The rest will not believe. Go, now, before thy doom arrives! (Chanting is heard) Mob: Die, Fleance, killer of Banquo! Lumberjack: Yer small enough to hide in the chest, lad. Speedily, now! (Fleance hides in wooden chest, Lumberjack closes it) (The mob enters the house) Peasant: Where be he? Lumberjack: Escaped. The lad must have witches aiding him, for his trick was most devious. Lumberjack's wife: (Wails) O! That such an evil hath taken comfort in my cooking! Lumberjack: Enough, wife. Neighbors, he did flee toward the North Sea! Be swift and ye might still catch him. I shall join you anon.

(Exit mob) (Fleance exits chest) Lumberjack: Take this basket of food and flee northwest. Follow the Locks toward the Isle of Man and leave Scotland. Ye must not return 'till this fever hath died down. (Exit Fleance) Scene 3 (Lock Ness) Fleance: I hath ne'er known hardship such as this. I see, now, that my life was one of abandon. Nothing distasteful did I see 'till the day my father was slain. Now, worn and hungry, I know the truth of life. But hark, someone approaches! (Enter Merchant, with horse and wagon) Merchant: Ho! Ye seem traveled. From hence did ye come? Fleance: Inverness, good man. And you? Merchant: Also Inverness, cursed place. There are sad spirits abound in that place. Have ye heard the awful tale of Fleance the killer? An entire town gave chase and still he ere not found. Makes me shiver in my boots, it does! Fleance: Aye. Inverness is safe no longer. Merchant: And Macbeth, King of Scotland. They say he saw an apparition at his banquet.

(Shakes head) A mad king is an evil tiding, a king with affinity to magic worse. Fleance: Mad, you say? He seemed to have his head when I was hence. Merchant: Perhaps 'tis just a rumor. Still, I worry. Which way goes you? I could use the company ere thieves approach. Fleance: Southwest, to the Isle of Man. Merchant: The Isle of Man. 'Tis a long way away, but ye be in luck. I carry stonework commissioned for Gruffydd ap Llwelyn, High King of Wales. My own brother owns a boat that will ride me over the Isle, and ye as well if ye want. I have need of an assistant since my last ran off to wed. Fleance: (aside) Good fortune has come my way! No one would think to seek Fleance to be a merchant's helper. A way out of Scotland and a disguise both. Things seem almost as bright as they once were, when my father lived still. I might yet survive this accusation. (To the merchant) Gladly will I go with you, good sir. I have need of a job. Merchant: Wonderful.

It was my good luck to find ye on the road, friend. Fleance: No, 'twas mine. Merchant: What be your name, good fellow? Fleance: (Hesitates) Osbern. Merchant: Wonderful. Come, Osbern, we must be on our way. (Exit Merchant and Fleance) (Ireland, the docks) Merchant: Glad am I to be off that ship, for certain! Merchant's brother: And myself, as well. I could hardly stomach watching ye's guts depart from th' proper place inside thy body. What of you, young Osbern? Fleance: I like the sea readily enough, but I must say that I am looking forward to food not filled with maggots. Merchant's brother: You exaggerate. Merchant: No, my brother, he states nothing ere th' truth. 'Twas thy food that my stomach could not stomach, after all. All: (Laugh) Merchant: (Hands Fleance some coins) Go! We shan't depart 'till the morn, and I remember well the joys of youth! Merchant's brother: Ye remember them, but I live them still, older brother.

Go Osbern, the work is done for now. Fleance: Thank you Sir. May the winds always catch thy sails and gold flow into thy coffers. (Exit Fleance) Merchant's brother: I well like thy assistant, brother. Ye did well to hire him. He is a hard worker and kindly both. Merchant: (nods) Yes. Upon first meeting him I said to myself, that lad be a trustworthy sort. Not like my last assistant. T'would be shocking if that lad had ere told a lie in his life, it would. Though it does wonder that he ne'er speaks of his past. Merchant's brother: Oh brother! Ye would make a horse out of an ass, ye would. See not mystery ere there be none! Remember well when ye thought a laundrywoman to be the disguised princess of Wales? Merchant: I hath done it again, ye say? And ere I thought my habit had been broke! Both: (Laugh) (A restaurant and inn, Ireland) Waitress: And what will ye be having, laddie? Fleance: Potatoes and stew, good woman. I hath heard wondrous things about thy food. Waitress: Young flatterer!

I'll be off to get it then. (Exit Waitress) Fleance: Twas my great fortune to fall upon the merchant when I did. I dare not think of what might be, had I not. Though I know not what I will do when they wish to return whence they came. I cannot yet return. Donalbain: Aye. I am of the same camp, lad. How fairs ye, son of Banquo? (Donalbain takes a seat) Fleance: Prince Donalbain! Ye fled to this place on the death of the king? How be ye in my camp? I am innocent, while ye conspired with Malcolm to kill thy father! Donalbain: Just as much as ye killed thy father, I hath killed mine. Which is to say, not at all. I am innocent as well. Malcolm and I fled only to escape the death brought by Duncan's murderer, Macbeth. Fleance: Macbeth! No, surely not! Such a close comrade to my late father? Tell me that Banquo was not part of his plot! Speak, man! Donalbain: I know not.

Malcolm suspects, however, Macbeth had him killed for discovering the evil deed Macbeth hath done. Fleance: Why, than I must return to Scotland to kill this fiend! Donalbain: No, you must not. For ye to return alone would mean thy death! Malcolm hath gone to England for aid. Fleance: Than I must go to England to join them. Donalbain: You are young. 'Twould be a sin for ye to fight, and ye could not kill Macbeth asides. That is Macduff's right, and his alone. Fleance: I am not so young, and ye have a woman's heart to worry so. Why does Macduff claim right to his head? Donalbain: The devil had Macduff's wife and bairns killed, every last one. That is far more serious then the death of a father, however kind. I would rather be called a woman then a child killer. Fleance: His children? Madness must have struck Macbeth for him to behave so! Donalbain: Aye, I do not disagree. But ye must see that it is a fool's errand to return to Scotland.

Stay in Ireland. Fleance: No. I will take thy advice and not return to dear Scotland, but I can not abandon the man who took me here. I will go to Wales. Donalbain: Speedy winds and best of luck to ye then. Act 2 Scene 1 (Rhuddlan, Wales) Merchant: Finally, our destination! Soon we will be able to return to Scotland. Are you not exited brother, Osbern, to be so close to the end of our trip. Merchant's Brother: We are only yet halfway, fool. We have yet to even relinquish our stonework, aye Osbern. Fleance: Yes, that is most true. But for me, perhaps this is closer to the end than it is for ye. Merchant: What do ye speak of, Osbern! Are ye ill? Do you feel ye will not make the return trip? I always said sea travel was no good, did I not, brother. Merchant's brother: Ye did, but that cannot be what the lad meant. Osbern loves the ship as much as I, and does not appear ill in the least. What is it, lad? Fleance: You have the right of it.

I am no more ill than I am a woman, and I prefer sea travel to any other kind. I cannot return to Scotland. Merchant: But why? Ye be the best assistant I e'er had! Did you anger a lord? Surely ye can appeal to the King for that! Fleance: There was no angry lord. Just a dead one. Merchant: Ye killed a lord? Fleance: No! I ne'er killed in my life, save a rabbit or deer. Merchant: Then ye were framed? Merchant's brother: No, the lad was not framed. Listen, and he will tell the tale anon. Fleance: The tale is not so long, but thy brother was correct. I did not kill, I would ne'er kill, but many believe I did so. I was chased out o' th' town of Inverness for they did not wish to hear the truth. I cannot return to dear Scotland 'till Eris doth flee, and truth seen more readily then tales. 'Till then, I will be killed 'ere I return. Merchant: (Wails) What I sad tale. Ye poor lad!

Fleance: I fear ye will ne' think so highly of me when I tell ye the last. My name was ne'er Osbern, but Fleance. Merchant's brother: Fleance? Th' lad that did kill his father, Thain of Lochaber? Fleance: I did not. Merchant: And ye told me there was no mystery in him, brother! Oh, but Osbern-Fleance, if thy father was Thain of Lochaber, and he was slain, then ye would be the Thain. Brother, ye made a Thain gut fish! Merchant's brother: And ye made a Thain thy servant. We did not know. Fleance: Ye both helped me more then ye could ever know. I ne'er would have survived, if not for thy kindness. Merchant: And we will do one more kindness to ye, my lord. We will get ye a job at the castle Rhuddlan, and ye will live there ere it be safe to return. Fleance: Ye truly are angels reborn. Scene 2 Steward: Osbern, take this tray to th' princess Nesta's room, if ye please. Fleance: Yes sir.

(Stewart gives tray to Fleance) (Exit Stewart) This job is most tedious, but gives me both room and board in wich to live, as well as pay. Until th' day I return to Scotland I will live fully, and not wither with want for the comforts of home. This is my home now, though Lochaber calls for me. (Fleance walks up stairs and knocks on a door) Nesta: Please enter. Fleance: I have thy midday meal, my lady. Nesta: Thank you, good sir. What is thy name? I have not seen ye before. Fleance: Osbern, my lady. I started just recently. Nesta: Welcome to the castle, have an odd accent. Are ye from Scotland? Fleance: Yes I am, lady. Nesta: What is it like? I hath always dreamed of travel, but my father fears 'tis to dangerous for a maiden. Fleance: Thy father speaks true, lady. I came to Wales only after my own father was slain. Nesta: Oh, how horrible! Ye poor soul! No wonder ye left.

I could not stay in th' place my father, or any of my siblings, were slain! Fleance: Would that I could have stayed, lady, but I had not a choice in the leaving. I apologize, but I must depart. The steward will be wondering where I be in a moment. Nesta: You must come visit me again, Osbern. And please, call me Mary. That is what my siblings and friends do, and I would so wish for ye to be my friend. Fleance: I would love to be thy friend as well, lady. If I am to call ye Mary, however, ye must call me Fleance. Nesta: Fleance. It is a very beautiful name. I will. Fleance: Adieu, Mary. (Fleance exits room and closes the door) Fleance: Mary, I have never met one such as ye. Aphrodite herself hath blessed thy image. Thy hair is spun from gold, and thy eyes be pools of emeralds. Love, I am no longer mine but thine! Oh, but to marry her would be as though to live the life of a king.

Scene 3 (Rhuddlan Castle, entrance) (Enter Steward, holding a sword. Behind him are many servants and soldier, including Fleance) Steward: Hurry lads, we hath not much time. The Vikings have come! We must defend what be ours, and if we should ne'er see another sunrise, then it will be a warriors death! A man could ask for no better. All: (Cheer) Steward: Hark! Here come the barbarians. (Enter the Vikings, armed) (Fleance spars with a Viking) Viking: Are they so down trodden that they send woman to fight now? Fleance: I am a man! (Viking is slain by another servant) Steward: They be after the royal children! Fleance: Mary! (Nesta Verch Gruffydd's room, Rhuddlan Castle) (Fleance runs past Vikings and soldiers fighting, into Nesta's room) (A Viking is holding Nesta by her hair) Fleance: Mary! Nesta: Fleance! Run! Do not let the Vikings slay ye as well!

(Fleance runs in and engages the Viking is a sword battle) (Another Viking grabs Nesta) (Fleance tries to get away from the first Viking to get to Nesta, but fails) (Enter Soldiers) (Battle. Fleance kills his Viking, and with help from the soldiers the Vikings are defeated) Nesta: (Runs to Fleance) Are ye injured? Fleance: No, I am fine. It is ye I should be asking that question to! I let the Vikings get to ye, and for that I will ne'er forgive myself. Nesta: Do not speak as such. Truly, you were a fearsome warrior. There were many more of them then ye! And.. I am very glad ye are uninjured. I confess that upon first speaking to ye, my heart was stolen. Steward: And if ye continue, thy dignity will be stolen. This peasant is unworthy of ye. Nesta: Do not say thus! I would not care id he were a sheep farmer. He is a right and honorable man, and I love him. Steward: Thy father will know of this, my lady. Ye will see this man no more.

(Exit Steward, dragging out a crying Nesta) Fleance: (Aside) The Steward is correct, I am unworthy. Did not the Viking name me as unmanly? He did not know me yet he spoke the truth. My father's last words spoke of revenge, and what have I done? Fled as though I own a woman's whit heart. If I want to wed Mary, and I truly do, then I must prove myself as a man. Then will I reclaim my title and ask for her hand. Act 3 Scene 1 (Birnam Wood, Scotland) Fleance: I returned to Scotland to pay my father his last respects, only to fins, close as a kid to it's mother, that Macbeth hath been slain. I should feel saddened, that I cannot grant his last request, and yet I feel relieved. Why is that? Do I fear killing? I must rid myself of this unmanly nature if I am to be worthy of Mary. What can I do to lose the ghost of my father? I hath loved ye, father, and wish only to be true to ye. (Lightning) What be that? Lightning, when not a cloud exists?

(Enter Witches) First Witch: We had thought, with the death of the most evil Macduff, that our mischief was over. Second Witch: We are glad then, that it is not so. Third Witch: What shall we do to him sisters? First Witch: Why, give him what he so wishes for! Fleance: What manner of beasts are ye? Second Witch: We are witches, son of Banquo. Fleance: How do ye know me? First Witch: We knew thy father well, as did we know Macbeth. It was most fun to lead Macbeth astray, though Banquo did not falter. Fleance: Ye caused my father's ally to turn against him? Ye caused that dark history to come about? (Fleance raises his sward and swiftly kills two of the witches) Third Witch: Do ye want to know how we did this? Fleance: I care not. (Fleance raises his sword) Third Witch: Blood of Ox and tit of bee- What he cares not for let him see! (Third witch pours potion over Fleance's Head) (Fleance collapses) First Witch: Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

Second Witch: Not so happy, yet much happier. Third Witch: Thou shall get kings, though thou shall be none. So hail Macbeth and Banquo! (Exit Witches) (Enter Macbeth) Macbeth: To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus- Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared. 'Tis much he dares; and, to that dauntless temper of his mind, he hath a wisdom that doth guides his valor to act in safety. There is none but him whose being I do fear: and under him my genius is rebuked, as it is said Mark Anthony was by Caesar. He chid the sisters, when first they put the name of king upon me, and bade them speak to him; then prophetlike they hailed him father to a line of kings. Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown and put a barren sceptor in my grip, thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand, no son of mine succeeding.

If 't be so, for Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; for them the gracious Duncan have I murdered; put rancors in the vessel in my peace only for them, and mine eternal jewel given to the common enemy of man, to make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! (Enter Murderers) Both of you know Banquo was your enemy. Second Murderer: we shall, my lord, perform what you command us. (Exit Macbeth and Murderers) (Reenter Macbeth and Murderers) Murderer: Most royal sir, Fleance is 'scaped. Macbeth: There the grown serpant lies; the worm that's fled hath nature that in time will venom breed. Scene 3 (Birnam Wood) Fleance: I hath seen a horror. Macbeth had my father slain for me! It is I who caused this discord, I who am responsible for my father's death. Shall I become evil as did Macbeth? No! I will not believe! But all other prophecies hath come to pass, only I remain. Will I kill King Malcolm for his crown? I do not wish to, but do I know myself?

Macbeth claimed that I ere a serpent, with venom for the strike. I cannot trust myself. How can I stop this from coming to pass? (A horse neighs) Someone approaches! Is it Malcolm? Is this ere I do the deed? (Enter Macduff, on horseback) Macduff: Is that Fleance, son of Banquo? It is good to see ye well! Fleance: No, not at all! I have learned some news most grotesque. Macduff: It cannot be as bad as thy mind has made it. Let loose your fears onto me. (Macduff descends from the horse) Fleance: I was returning when I heard the sound of lightning. Alas, then appeared my doom, in the form of monstrous witches. They spoke to me and said that they caused the evil that did infect Macbeth, and cause him to kill my father. At that time I was angered, and attacked the beasts. I killed two before one cast a spell. It revealed that they hath told prophesies toward Macbeth and Banquo, and that I am the cause of my father's death.

Banquo's heirs will be kings?I wish for no kingship, only to wed my love! Shall I be swayed as Macbeth was? Macduff: Macbeth was evil from the start. You, Fleance, hold a noble soul. If ye become king 'twil not be through evil, so rest in peace, lad. However, I do fear what will happen if the last witch continues to roam free. We had best find her most swiftly. Fleance: Your plan hath much merit, and I do hope ye are correct about my soul. Still, I fear. Macduff: It is in the nature of man to fear. Now, let us depart. Scene 4 (An Open Place) (Thunder and lightning) Third Witch: Alack, my sisters, that th' wretched boy did slay thee! I will make a potion to show him great horror. Then will he fear the name of the weird sisters! (Sits around a caldron) Toe of a tortured monk. Plucked feathers of a duck. Blood from a maidens heart. Eye of an owl, caught in the dark. Middle finger of a prince, and a bastards blood to rinse it all through.

Thus completes my stew. (Stands, holding caldron) Hark! Here thou cometh, Fleance. (Enter Fleance and Macduff) Fleance: Die, bitter fiend! (Macduff and Fleance attack) Third Witch: Fleance! Take this spell to make you fear! Thy destiny will now be clear! (A deep fog surrounds) Fleance: I am not like a babe, to fall prey to the same trick a second time! (Fleance moves to attack witch) (A vision of Nesta appears beside a vision of Fleance. They stand ready to be wed. The vision fades) Fleance: Are ye trying to confound my brain, witch? Giving me what I want? It shan't work! Macduff: What do ye see, lad? I see nothing save white fog. Third Witch: Only thee, Fleance, can see what is in store. May it be gruesome! (Fleance follows her voice and hold the sword up) (A vision of a man who resembles both Fleance and Nesta appears, acting as a Steward to a vision of a king. The vision fades) Fleance: Cursed visions!

I was but a stride away from slaying the witch! Witch: (Cackles) (Fleance turns in a slow circle, holding his sword out) (A vision of a man resembling the Steward from before appears, about to be married to a vision of a princess. It fades) Fleance: Macduff spoke truly. I do not kill for my title! Oh happy day! (A vision of a king who faintly resembles the steward at a play, watching Macbeth watch Banquo's ghost) (The vision fades abruptly and the fog disappears) Third Witch: No! My plan hath failed. He was not to like his future! Hecate, avenge me! (Fleance kills the Witch) Fleance: I beheld me future, good Macduff, and I did not kill for kingship! My descendant married into it. Macduff: I am glad for ye, lad. Now, let us return to the castle. Ye have a mighty welcome awaiting you, if I know the King. Fleance: I will. I can only stay for a short time, however. My heart longs for my love, and I would return t' Wales for her soon.

Scene 5 (Nesta Verch Gruffydd's room, Rhuddlan Castle) Servant: My lady, the Thain of Lochaber has come from Scotland to ask yer father for yer hand, and the servants are saying that he will agree. Thou will soon be wed! Nesta: I will not. I will marry no other man save Fleance. No lord nor Thain could compare to him in my regard. Servant: Then 'twill be a loveless marriage, for sure. Lass, ye cannot have truly thought that ye would marry a commoner? Nesta: I love him more then th' sun loves the dawn. More then my father loves land. More then th' Irish love drink and th' sheep love grass! (Steward Enters) SparkNotes: Macbeth: Character List Character List Plot Overview Analysis of Major Characters Macbeth - Macbeth is a Scottish general and the thane of Glamis who is led to wicked thoughts by the prophecies of the three witches, especially after their prophecy that he will be made thane of Cawdor comes true. Macbeth is a brave soldier and a powerful man, but he is not a virtuous one.

He is easily tempted into murder to fulfill his ambitions to the throne, and once he commits his first crime and is crowned King of Scotland, he embarks on further atrocities with increasing ease. Ultimately, Macbeth proves himself better suited to the battlefield than to political intrigue, because he lacks the skills necessary to rule without being a tyrant. His response to every problem is violence and murder. Unlike Shakespeare’s great villains, such as Iago in Othello and Richard III in Richard III, Macbeth is never comfortable in his role as a criminal. He is unable to bear the psychological consequences of his atrocities. Read an in-depth analysis of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth - Macbeth’s wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position. Early in the play she seems to be the stronger and more ruthless of the two, as she urges her husband to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins, however, Lady Macbeth falls victim to guilt and madness to an even greater degree than her husband. Her conscience affects her to such an extent that she eventually commits suicide. Interestingly, she and Macbeth are presented as being deeply in love, and many of Lady Macbeth’s speeches imply that her influence over her husband is primarily sexual.

Their joint alienation from the world, occasioned by their partnership in crime, seems to strengthen the attachment that they feel to each another. Read an in-depth analysis of Lady Macbeth. The Three Witches - Three “black and midnight hags” who plot mischief against Macbeth using charms, spells, and prophecies. Their predictions prompt him to murder Duncan, to order the deaths of Banquo and his son, and to blindly believe in his own immortality. The play leaves the witches’ true identity unclear—aside from the fact that they are servants of Hecate, we know little about their place in the cosmos. In some ways they resemble the mythological Fates, who impersonally weave the threads of human destiny. They clearly take a perverse delight in using their knowledge of the future to toy with and destroy human beings. Read an in-depth analysis of The Three Witches. Banquo - The brave, noble general whose children, according to the witches’ prophecy, will inherit the Scottish throne. Like Macbeth, Banquo thinks ambitious thoughts, but he does not translate those thoughts into action.

In a sense, Banquo’s character stands as a rebuke to Macbeth, since he represents the path Macbeth chose not to take: a path in which ambition need not lead to betrayal and murder. Appropriately, then, it is Banquo’s ghost—and not Duncan’s—that haunts Macbeth. In addition to embodying Macbeth’s guilt for killing Banquo, the ghost also reminds Macbeth that he did not emulate Banquo’s reaction to the witches’ prophecy. King Duncan - The good King of Scotland whom Macbeth, in his ambition for the crown, murders. Duncan is the model of a virtuous, benevolent, and farsighted ruler. His death symbolizes the destruction of an order in Scotland that can be restored only when Duncan’s line, in the person of Malcolm, once more occupies the throne. Macduff - A Scottish nobleman hostile to Macbeth’s kingship from the start. He eventually becomes a leader of the crusade to unseat Macbeth. The crusade’s mission is to place the rightful king, Malcolm, on the throne, but Macduff also desires vengeance for Macbeth’s murder of Macduff’s wife and young son.

Malcolm - The son of Duncan, whose restoration to the throne signals Scotland’s return to order following Macbeth’s reign of terror. Malcolm becomes a serious challenge to Macbeth with Macduff’s aid (and the support of England). Prior to this, he appears weak and uncertain of his own power, as when he and Donalbain flee Scotland after their father’s murder. Hecate - The goddess of witchcraft, who helps the three witches work their mischief on Macbeth. Fleance - Banquo’s son, who survives Macbeth’s attempt to murder him. At the end of the play, Fleance’s whereabouts are unknown. Presumably, he may come to rule Scotland, fulfilling the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s sons will sit on the Scottish throne. Lennox - A Scottish nobleman. Ross - A Scottish nobleman. The Murderers - A group of ruffians conscripted by Macbeth to murder Banquo, Fleance (whom they fail to kill), and Macduff’s wife and children. Porter - The drunken doorman of Macbeth’s castle. Lady Macduff - Macduff’s wife.

The scene in her castle provides our only glimpse of a domestic realm other than that of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. She and her home serve as contrasts to Lady Macbeth and the hellish world of Inverness. Donalbain - Duncan’s son and Malcolm’s younger brother. In Macbeth by Shakespeare, how many murderers attack Banquo and his son? | eNotes In Macbeth by Shakespeare, how many murderers attack Banquo and his son? William Delaney | (Level 3) Distinguished Educator Posted on In Act III, Scene 1, Macbeth convinces two apparently ordinary commoners that Banquo has been their enemy and that they should kill him. Know That it was he, in the times past, which held you So under fortune, which you thought had been Our innocent self? Evidently it really was Macbeth who, for whatever reason, had held them "so under fortune," but he succeeds in getting them to believe it was really Banquo. Shakespeare may have felt it was credible for Macbeth to do such persuading to two men but that if he added a third man it would seem less so. But the playwright must have realized that he would need three men to ambush Banquo and his son.

Banquo is a mighty warrior. It would take at least two men to kill him. But he would need a third man to attack Fleance. Shakespeare simply had the third murderer show up at the ambush scene and tell the other two that Macbeth had sent him. The Third Murderer does not necessarily hold the same grudge against Banquo as the other two. This Third Murderer might be just a paid assassin or might have been stirred up against Banquo with some other pack of lies. Shakespeare must have felt that the meeting between Macbeth and the first two murderers would be easier to handle and Macbeth's inciting lies more effective with two men than with three. When the Third Murderer joins the other two in Act III, Scene 3, he is used to provide information to them, and to the audience, that had not been provided before. FIRST MURDERER: Almost a mile, but he does usually— So all men do—from hence to the palace gate Make it their walk. Banquo and Fleance have been out riding all day. But they could hardly appear on stage on horseback! So Shakespeare has to explain why the father and son are on foot.

It seems odd that visitors to the palace would leave their horses almost a whole mile from the palace and then approach on foot. But Shakespeare had to have Banquo and Fleance on foot when they are attacked. Even if Shakespeare could have shown father and son on horses, that would have made it very difficult for the three murderers to attack them--but showing them on horseback on an Elizabethan stage was out of the question anyway. If the first two murderers already knew that Banquo and Fleance would be on foot, then there would be no excuse for having them explain it to each other. But evidently they don't know this fact. What the Third Murderer tells them is intended to convey this information to the audience, who would otherwise wonder why the father and son are not riding their horses when they are, of necessity, so far away from the palace. Macbeth would have wanted the ambush to take place at least a mile from his palace because he doesn't want any hint that he might have been involved in the plot.

As he tells the two murderers in Act III, Scene 1: ...and though I could March 19, 2009 at 1:02 AM Although Macbeth had arranged the details of the attack on Banquo and Fleance with two murderers, when the men lie in wait for father and son, we find three murderers on the scene. The first two question the third, asking him who sent him, and he responds, "Macbeth." The audience is left to speculate about the reason for the third murderer. Does Macbeth add another man to improve the odds by having three men attack two? That thought may well be his reason for the additional murderer. At any rate, the plan does not succeed because only Banquo is killed. Fleance manages to escape in the darkness; thus, Macbeth is unable to thwart the witches' prophecy that Banquo's descendants will be kings. like 1 dislike 1

Question: Fleance appears in Shakespeare's Macbeth, whose son is he?
Answer: Banquo